c. 1999 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Members of Congress, Clinton administration officials along with religious leaders and other Christians gathered on Capitol Hill on Thursday (May 6) to mark the National Day of Prayer. “To be in the capital, with everyone praying _ that is just so encouraging,”said 17-year-old Kelly Franklin, explaining why she and 12 other members of a youth group from Greensboro, N.C., piled into their church van at 4 a.m. to make the 6-hour drive to Washington.”I just know that something awesome is going to happen,”said Franklin.”Everything in society has been going so wrong lately. I just know God is going to do something great.” From the recent shootings at Columbine High School to the tornados that destroyed homes and left many dead in Oklahoma and Kansas to the ongoing war in Kosovo, disasters _ both natural and human _ were a major concern during the daylong event.”I don’t think that I have ever sensed a greater need for prayer than I feel right now,”said event organizer Shirley Dobson, whose words were met with applause.”We have come through a very dark year.” The Washington gathering has become an annual event sponsored by the National Day of Prayer Task Force, headed by Dobson. Dobson also sits on the board of the evangelical protestant organization, Focus on the Family, which was founded by her husband, Dr. James Dobson.”If there ever was a time when this nation needed prayer it is now and if there ever was an event that illustrated that fact it is the Littleton tragedy,”James Dobson told Religion News Service as the event got underway. “It really lets us know what is going on in the world of the young,”he said.”Many of (the youth) are lost. Many of them don’t know what they believe. Many of them have been taught that there are no absolute truths and it is time for us to go to our knees and ask the Lord for a spiritual renewal that will change that,”said Dobson.

But not all welcomed the capital prayer session.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a liberal watchdog group that tracks the religious right, issued a statement objecting to the Capitol Hill event, accusing organizers of excluding Mormons and Muslims from participating. The organization also accused the Task Force of attempting to gain official government endorsement for its event.”Most Americans are sure to think this Christian prayer event is sponsored by the government,”said the Rev. Barry Lynn, Americans United’s executive director.”That sends a negative, exclusionary message to religious minorities who are being told they are not welcome.” Shirley Dobson responded, saying,”This is not a political event. This is a gathering for all Americans. It’s a day set aside by Congress for people of all faiths to pray.”We are a Judeo-Christian expression of the National Day of Prayer. This country was founded on the God of the Bible and on Biblical principals, so we are carrying on that tradition but we encourage all faiths, in their own way, to pray today.” Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and Roman Catholic Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, were among the few National Day of Prayer speakers who were not evangelical Protestants.”Jews tend to be concerned with issues of church (and) state,”said Eckstein, founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.”And I think that a day like today, if it were really formalized, might get a lot of people asking a lot of questions. But I don’t think Jews are even aware that this is happening.””Clearly,”he added,”this is a predominantly evangelical gathering _ and that is okay.” At the event, White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey announced a strategy to enroll faith groups in the fight against drugs. McCaffrey said the Clinton administration has been reaching out to a broad range of faith groups, asking them to speak out against illegal drug use.

Organizers said 20,000 prayer groups, coordinated by 40,000 volunteers, will meet in homes and churches this year. Task Force officials estimated that more than 2 million people nationwide would join to pray for issues ranging from the war in Kosovo to the shooting in Colorado.

The National Day of Prayer was originally established in 1952. It is observed on the first Thursday of May.

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Other events to mark the day include a”Nationally Broadcast Concert of Prayer,”with segments to be held in Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle and New York. In addition to television and radio, the Concert of Prayer will also be broadcast live over the Internet by crosswalk.com.

Proclamations issued this week by President Clinton and the governors from nearly every state recognized the National Day of Prayer. However, Jesse Ventura, the former professional wrestler-turned-governor of Minnesota, refused to issue the usual annual proclamation.

According to a statement from Ventura’s office, the governor”declined to issue a proclamation based on a policy that prayer and religion are personal and not state issues.”

DEA END ROCKWOOD